For 38 years, the WE Share Food Shelf in Elysian has provided food to those in need in the Waterville and Elysian area.
While the year-long COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the need for food assistance, the local food shelf’s numbers have remained steady.
“The need has definitely gone up, but we are serving about the same number of families—between 40 and 50—we did at this time last year,” stated food shelf coordinator Pat Nusbaum.
This conundrum is explained by a change of clients.

An Elysian man has been charged with a felony after he fled a police officer in a motor vehicle.
Bryan William Fries, 37, of Elysian faces a felony charge in Le Sueur County Court for fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle. Four misdemeanor charges, all tied to the same incident, have also been filed against Fries for having violated a domestic abuse no-contact order, domestic assault, possession of more than 1.4 grams of marijuana in a vehicle, and having an open bottle of alcohol in a vehicle. The charges were filed February 16.

The record-setting high school basketball career of WEM senior Brielle Bartelt will be coming to an end in April.
The Class A State Tournament is scheduled for the second weekend in April.
Bartelt would love to have her team advance, as they did last year, only to have the tourney end due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the Bucs do advance, this wouldn’t be the final high school game for Bartelt, who has signed to play at Iowa Lakes Community College in the fall.

The 2021 FFA/Snow Week Royalty were crowned Friday, Feb. 19 in Waterville. The Queen was Lindsay Condon and the King was Kolin Rients. Princesses were Paige Atherton, Jessica Hilpipre, and Lindy Caldwell. Princes were Kyle Schmitz, Gavin Krantz, and Ahmad Alladin.
Feb. 22 through 26 WEM students will feature a ton of activities and dress up days.

A respected Czech Country supper club has become the latest victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, announcing its permanent closure on Thursday.
The Lakeside Supper Club, located on Lake Pepin on Highway 13/21 between Montgomery and New Prague, has been closed since the initial COVID-19 "stay at home" order in March last year, and will not be re-opening.
In a Facebook post to its patrons, owner George Kukacka and Catering Manager, Jayne Hirdler, made the decision with “heavy hearts and profound sadness” not to re-open.

This program is for children living in the Waterville-Elysian area who are 1-18 years of age.
Program is sponsored on the third Saturday of each month between the hour of 10 and 11:30 a.m. Next distribution is Saturday, February 20.
Pickup occurs in front of the food shelf, volunteers will be there to ask how many children in the family, bags of kid friendly food will be given to each car.
There is no income eligibility for anyone. All families with children will be accommodated, until supplies for that day are exhausted.

For about 20 years, Laura (Borneke) Allen worked as a speech language pathologist at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown schools.
A few years ago, Laura’s chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia started to make it difficult to keep up with a full-time...
To see more on this story, pick up the February 18, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

For about 20 years, Laura (Borneke) Allen worked as a speech language pathologist at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown schools.
A few years ago, Laura’s chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia started to make it difficult to keep up with a full-time...
To see more on this story, pick up the February 18, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

Temperatures dropped below -25 over the weekend. Derek Westby of Elysian decided to see exactly how cold it was and the results are in. It was cold enough to freeze your pants.

Per Governor Walz today, effective Saturday, February 13 at noon, further steps to reopen Minnesota’s economy safely, are listed below.
·        Increasing the “not to exceed” capacity in restaurants to 250, while leaving the maximum capacity at 50 percent
·        Increasing indoor entertainment “not to exceed” capacity to 250, while leaving the maximum capacity at 25 percent
·        Increasing private events and celebrations “not to exceed” capacity to 50, while leaving the maximum capacity at 25

It is that time of year when scammers come out in full force. Unfortunately for a couple of Le Sueur County residents, they were duped into sending money to someone they didn’t know.
Le Sueur County Assistant Attorney Jason...
To read more on this story, pick up the February 11, 2021 print editions of the LifeEnterprise and Montgomery Messenger.

A new tradition will be started this month at WEM High School.
National FFA Week has been celebrated in the past. Now there will be additional activities during this special week.
The FFA festivities will now be expanded with a new tradition, Snow Week.
According to WEM Principal Dr. Jennifer Wilson, Snow Week will feature BUCS...
To see more on this story, pick up the February 11, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

Minnesota families who have owned their farms for 100 years or more are invited to apply for the 2021 Century Farm Program. Produced by the Minnesota State Fair in conjunction with the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, the Century Farm Program was created to promote agriculture and honor historic family farms in the state. More than 10,500 Minnesota farms have been honored since the program began in 1976.

BEVCOMM receives funds for Rice and Waseca County
While the critical importance of reliable, high-speed broadband access has become even more obvious during the pandemic, there are still unserved and underserved areas of the state. To help close that gap, on Jan. 28, the state...
To read more on this story, pick up the February 4, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

Editor Wade Young, Staff Writer Lisa Ingebrand, and Graphic Designer Jennifer Leff, who work for Suel Printing Company, were honored for their work during the 2021 Minnesota Newspaper Association's (MNA) Annual Convention on January 28.
Young, from the Montgomery Messenger, won in the...
To see more on this story, pick up the February 4, 2021 print editions of The New Prague Times, Montgomery Messenger and LifeEnterprise.

Eileen Mediger of Waterville (pictured at right) eagerly rolled up her sleeve so Michelle Steiger, a pharmacy manager for Corner Drug in Le Sueur, could give her the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on January 26 at Traditions of Waterville. Mediger, who serves as her mother’s essential caregiver, was one of 85 individuals vaccinated at the facility on Tuesday. “This was really nice of Traditions. They include two family members as part of a resident’s essential caregivers. Because of this I was eligible for the vaccine, and I’m so very grateful,” Mediger stated.